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No. 39 ILFORD PAN-F 50

I had shot PAN-F before. In fact, it was one of my favorites when I was shooting a lot of black & white.

Ilford markets this as a slow speed, high contrast film with great sharpness. No false advertising here, that’s exactly what you’re getting.

That’s the theory anyway. Sharpness is going to depend on the photographer, especially when shooting a 50 ISO film.

With slower films you’re either going to have to sacrifice the shutter speed or the aperture in order to get enough light. Lenses aren’t usually at their sharpest wide open so if you’re lens goes to 2.0 for example you’re going to want to shoot at least at 2.8.

That usually means, unless you have a lot of light, that you’re shutter speed is going to slow down, which also means you’re going to get a less sharp image.

It’s a challenge to get a sharp image with a slow film, but when its done well there is nothing like it. There is virtually no grain in a film like PAN-F, also I know I’ve said this before but no one makes highlights like Ilford.

I’m having a lot of fun shooting exclusively black and white. I have now covered the initial four films that I was planning on, but I think I’m going to stay on the traditional films for a while longer

At first I thought of it as a limitation, but now I see it as the opposite. There are so many scenes that would be utterly uninteresting in color that are fascinating in Black & White.

I find that b&w also calls for more experimentation in developing than color, which for me is more tied to reality.

I will definitely be shooting more of this film, overall I was very impressed with the lineup of Ilford films, they all have distinct uses and personalities.

I’m not sure what next week’s post will be..

Ektachrome post is coming! If not this week then the next

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